Mysuru:  Unless more Multinational Companies (MNCs) come to Mysuru and connectivity improves it is very difficult to see more startups in Mysuru, said Naganand Doraswamy, Managing Director and Founder, Ideaspring Capital.

He was delivering the inaugural address on ‘Mysuru: The next Tech Startup Capital of Karnataka’ organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mysuru chapter, at a private hotel in city recently.

He said, “Every year an average of 13,000 graduates pass out from the district and nearly Rs.6,000 crore worth IT products are exported from Mysuru every year, but to give boost to startups, it lacks much needed MNCs. Benglauru, which is startup capital in the country, has the presence of top 100 companies in the world. So we need to take steps to attract MNCs to Mysuru.”

“Bengaluru didn’t become the start-up capital overnight; it developed methodically over a period of 40 to 50 years. Bengaluru not only attracted companies because of its weather but also abundance of talents locally and also from outside. The policy including creating of Software Technology Park in Bengaluru also enabled more companies to come to Bengaluru” added Doraswamy.

What can Mysuru do to attract MNCs? “Though tourism branding is good, there is no proper connectivity which is very important to attract more MNCs. On a good day it takes three hours and on a bad day more than five hours to reach Bengaluru from Mysuru,” he said.

Achutha Bachalli, Founder and Chairman, Unilog Content Solutions, said: “First of all when we do startup, basically we start with an idea which plays an important role. Mysuru, which is known for theatre, music, dance, serenity with lesser traffic is the best place for idea generation which is not the same    in Bengaluru.”

Arjun Ranga, Chairman of CII Mysuru, briefed about various of the government especially digital programmes where there is plenty of scope for startups and young entrepreneurs.

He said, tier-II cities offer startup-friendly environment   by providing low cost manpower, cheaper real estate, and more affordable amenities to young companies with limited budgets.

Bhaskar Kalale, Senior Vice-President, Theorem Inc, said, in the recent times, the emergence of the Tech-led business startups have become the prime mover of employment for the younger generation and a major differentiator across various sectors brought the role of innovators into the mainstream focus in India.

Mysuru has all the wherewithal to become the next tech startup hub after Bengaluru. Being the second largest software exporter in Karnataka, it has a very unique blend of manufacturing and services industry in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector, which is also a major export revenue generator.